tangoll

I would like to share two messages about recent problems. The writer is Thai-Chinese in origin, but 100% Thai in outlook, lives in Korat, has own business, and also owns a condo in Bangkok where her two daughters live. Highly educated, speaks/writes English as you can see below (without alteration from me), and is learning Mandarin Chinese now. I had asked her opinion as to whether it is now safe to travel to Bangkok.

------Beginning of 1st message

You can book your ticket in advance. Right now, no one know the

> real situation. During these two days, it is on curfew. We will have

> to see in next week. The school in Bangkok will start and open on this

> coming Monday. BTS and MRT continue to close to repair the damage. I

> read the slight news that the red might gather again soon. It is so

> ridiculous that gov. has to pay the money for those red to go back home

> for bus fare. They lined up and get money. Gov. had to feed them

> and offered free bus , free train to go back even up to Chiangmai. I

> saw from TV, when they got down from train, they raised their red

> symbol, flag and whatever to show they were still proud and returned

> home as hero. People got mad at the red and Abhisit is blamed for

> treating the red leaders in such a good living at the house beside

> the Hua Hin beach. They are supposed to be in jail. This question must

> be cleared by gov. The gov. said this is under the duty of

> police!!!!!! Oh! this is Thailand. Things turn upside down and we

> people suffer. Personally, I don't blamed Taksin totally. It is what

> kind of Thai people is. King Chulalongkorn had reduced slaves from

> Thailand over one hundred yeas ago but still Thai people is bounded to

> be slaves by instinct forever. Slaved of money that Taksin threw upon

> them. Taksin is just a too smart person to know how to make use

> of country's money. He cheats and earns power from that money.

>

> I hope you shall be able to come as schedule. If anything goes

> wrong, I certainly will inform you. I also plan to go to Bangkok in

> next two days to join the funeral of my friend's father. I don't want

> to go at all but this is necessary. Unless there is arson

> and shooting then I will have to stay home only.

-------2nd message

> The time you will be in Bangkok next month, I will see if I can be there too.

I don't feel like going at all during this moment. Yesterday (my daughter) asked

my permission to go out doing public cleaning with her friends. I strongly refuse

because I am not sure all the mob area is clean of the bomb or not.

Beside, the place is too dirty. (My daughter) might possibly bring disease back home.

The red created the shit and we have to clean, what a world!!!!!!

Good idea to watch first before booking. From now on you will be able to fly Bkk-Hkg

with a very good and cheap cost. No tourists want to visit Thailand now.

In front of CTW Central World, (My brother) told me there are words attaching there

"This is how they repay us". It is because while the red put their stage in front of CTW,

CTW offered them toilets and underground parking place to use. It is so ungrateful to

arson and stole CTW.

---------End of message (I deleted names of individuals)

Some posters here will undoubtedly dismiss her comments as being typical of the Thai-Chinese that the red shirts are protesting about, but I think she views the situation in a way much clearer than most Thais, and certainly with greater clarity than any of the non-Thais who usually post here. She had consented to my posting her comments here.

As regards the photo of Thaksin:

I believe that Thaksin has been photoshopped into the photo for the following reasons:

1. The left red arrow (made by me) shows a double line faint shadow that appears to be in line with where Thaksin should have been standing. In that case, Thaksin's shadow should cast a long shadow along the same line or just parallel to it.

2. The right red arrow (made by me) points to the triangular space between Thaksin's left arm and body of the jacket. If blown up, the colour of that space is much lighter than the colours of the pavement just next to Thaksin's left and right arms. Because the two colours of the pavement next to the arms are very similar in shade and intensity, it should follow that the colour of the pavement in the triangular space should be similar as well, but it is not.

Therefore, I would conclude that Thaksin's image has been photoshopped into the photo, though it is a masterful job. The edges between Thaksin himself and the surrounding background show no apparent photoshop effect, except that the top of his head, the line of his hair is straight across, whereas one would expect some curvature or randomness due to hair strands.

The large shadow at the bottom right of the photo is the same colour as Thaksin's jacket, so there is no distinction between the jacket and the shadow. Whereas the shadow made by the lamppost has a colour that is distinctly separate from the colour of the jacket.

I'm just an amateur photoshopper, but when inserting images onto another image, the most difficult part of the job is conforming the background seen through the image is consistent with the surrounding background; for example, photoshopping a tennis racquet onto a stadium background. What you see thru the strings of the photoshopped racquet must be consistent with the background surrounding the racquet after the photoshopped effect.

Selley's of Australia makes a product called Plastic Wood, described as a fast setting, wood filling cement, in a tube 50 grams. It's more like glue with wood fibres, very fast setting and hardening. I would think that humid climate would not affect its eventual setting and hardening. I haven't seen any before in Bangkok, either Homepro or Big C. I got my tube in Hong Kong.

If you can't really find exactly what you are looking for, and the gaps/holes are not so big, just fill the gaps and holes with toothpicks, then apply regular glue into the remaining spaces. Let the glue harden, then sand the whole thing down, and paint over it. Works fine this way.

If the purchaser is not a Thai national, then the purchaser has to show funds imported for this purchase, from the bank, must get the Foreign Exchange Transaction Form in an amount greater than the transaction amount to be used at time of transfer. If the seller is a Thai national, then seller must get from condo Juristic body, the document certifying that upon transfer, the 49% limit on non-Thai ownership ratio in condo will still be in effect after the sale/transfer.

In all cases, seller must also obtain from Juristic body, the "bai plod ngee" certifying that the condo unit is free of any debt to the juristic body/condo.

I do not know what rules apply with regards to funds import if the purchaser has a work permit or any type of residence permit for stay in Thailand.

Of course, the purchaser has to ensure that the balance of funds due to the seller and the funds for payment of taxes/fees are prepared in time for transfer of ownership.

Once all documents are ready, then the actual transfer at the Land Dept office may take only a few hours; but preparing all documents will take a few days or weeks at best. Depends on how you negotiate the purchase and what gets specified in the sales and purchase agreement, which is a good thing to have signed.

Given the proviso that I am not a Thai tax lawyer or accountant, this is what I know about the Special Bus Tax.

1. If you are a Thai national and also the owner (on chanute) and have lived in the property for over one year, then the SBT does not apply when you sell the property even if owned for less than 5 years.

2. Note that the calculation of what constitutes one year or 5 years is not your logical understanding of the period of time. In the case of calculating the revenue tax, the number of years used in the calculation depends on how many calendar years the ownership has spanned, whether it's 364 days or even one day. So, for example, if you took ownership on 31 Dec 2009, and sold and transferred to a new owner on 1 Jan 2010, the calculation of revenue tax would use two years as the basis for calculating the tax. Whether this same way is used for determining whether one year or 5 years is applied for SBT is something I don't know.

In any event, the SBT is now 3.3% of the transaction value used by Land Dept office in computing your tax if you are seller and not a Thai national, and have not yet exceeded 5 years of ownership.

Ask for Ying at Southeast Pharmacy a few doors down from Soi 15 Sukhumvit. Really the best prices in Bangkok.

The other pharmacy that was mentioned in an earlier post is right by the entrance from the elevated walkway to Amarin Plaza off the BTS station Chidlom. I think they have most products, but not sure about their prices, certainly higher than Southeast Pharmacy.

Across from main entrance of MBK on other side of Phayathai road is the pharmacy of a pharmaceutical college. The stock room behind the counter looks huge and prices seem reasonable.

Would be interested to find out from OP owner of Mil Residence what finally he/she did and how all the defects were resolved.

My experience from being first owner to transfer and move into new Noble Remix at Thonglor has been that the juristic office and developer's technical staff responded immediately to fixing any defects/problems in my unit once I moved in.

The mostly western way of holding out for your legalistic position doesn't always work in Asian/non-west societies.

I also have an APEC card, and when entering Thailand, you are granted 90 day stay. So if you enter 5th June, you are granted permission to stay until 5th Sept, which is stamped into your passport. So even if your APEC card expires during this period, if in your example expires on 29th July, you should have no problem exiting Thailand up to 5th Sept. I don't think you'll have problems even entering the fast track lane at the departure hall if you exit via airport.

I don't think you need to worry, but then I'm not an immigration official of Thailand, just a normal visitor with APEC card.

Hi I have a one year old apartment on Sukhumvit Soi 26 that I own and have used one week each month since Oct 2008. Still brand new condition. Fit your budget, one bedroom, 21st floor, 51.77 sq meters. PM me here or email me pcmar at netvigator dot com if you wish to discuss further. I'll be moving out 13 March and unit is in move in condition, unfurnished but water heater, air conditioning units, washing machine, refrigerator, curtain rods, glass shower door all installed.

tangoll

The prevalent advice that others not in your particular position would be to NOT make any further payment until all the defects, etc are sorted out. It's said that once you have made payment, the developer would push you down the priority list as he/she have other would be owners to deal with. But consider that once your final payment has been made, you would get keys to your unit and access as an owner. You could come and go into your unit as you please, and if the defects are not structural or major ones, you could even move in. And once on premises, you would be there every minute, hour, and day demanding the juristic office, the engineering/technical/sales staff of the developer to fix the defects in your unit first. I would think that the developer would want to fix your problems promptly, so that he can show would be owners that at least one owner has already moved in and had his problems solved.

That's been my experience anyway. I was the first owner to move into the AP Siam Pathumwan project at Ratchetewi and I am the first owner to transfer at the new Noble Remix project at Sukhumvit soi 36 Thonglor. As soon as I became a real owner of the condo project, the relative position of being a real owner as opposed to being a not yet transferred owner strengthened considerably when demanding service from the juristic office and/or developer's staff on site. All responded immediately to my requests/demands to repair and fix problems because I was there in their face all the time.

Only you can decide how quickly you want access and occupancy of your unit. So don't just take the advice of the posters here; they are just talking off the top of their head, without consideration of your particular situation, and possibly even without comparable experience.

Only you can decide what your objective is, and how best to achieve it. Others, to put it bluntly, ain't got a clue what they are talking about.

Thanks for replies. I did ask the engineering staff for this film, which they do not have, and what they did was to get some of the thick brown wrapping paper and taped that to the window. Well, it's a temporary solution until I can figure out what else to do.

In a brand new condo by Noble Development called Noble Remix, the developer used clear glass on a sliding window 1.5 x 1.5 meter right next to the bathtub/shower, so that if one is standing up taking a shower, your body is totally available for view from the outside. Who knows why the developer didn't use frosted glass for this window?

Where in Bangkok can I find the reflective film which can be applied to the window pane so that the window is darkened or reflects viewing from the outside, like the darkened windows of some automobiles? I guess I could go find some car repair shop that might do this, but is there some DIY place which might also have this film, such as Homepro? And how does one asks for this film in Thai language?

Thanks.

In Mah Boon Krong on the 3rd floor there is a shop that sells legit DVDs called Look Maew (or something like that). It's located next to a better known DVD chain called Mang Pong (or something like that). You can try either place. They have a lot of foreign DVD shows with Thai subtitles. Don't know if they have the Wire though.

When you do the transfer of ownership as a non-Thai buyer, you must supply to the Lands Dept, originals of Foreign Exchange Transaction Form(s) whose baht amounts in total are greater than the transaction value being used for the transfer. This can be in one form or multiple forms. The excess value of the baht totals on those forms once supplied to LD are lost to you and cannot be reclaimed or used in another transfer transactions.

So yes, you can transfer in more foreign currency than you need. But it may be more judicious to break up the transfers into smaller amounts vs one big transfer if you intend on having several FETFs which can be divided up into several purchases.

For sure, the Land Dept office doing the transfer of ownership will accept more than one FETF so that the total amount of the submitted FETFs exceeds the transaction value being declared for the transfer. I imagine the same would apply for the "bai rap rong" as described by pattayaparent.

The flights from HKG/BKK on Emirates or Royal Jordanian airlines arrive usually after 11:00 pm, and at those times, the main immigration hall is always open, often not crowded, but now and then some other large plane flights arrive at the same time, so crowded. The other hall, 50 metres or so away, is usually open and deserted, but last time I arrived mid-January, that hall was closed, except that the fast track lane for APEC card holders and diplomats/officials was open. You just have to go to the 2nd hall and check, and if closed, probably you haven't lost a whole lot of time if the first hall is crowded anyway.

Before I got the APEC Business Travel Card (which entitles me to use the fast track immigration lane), and if the immigration hall was packed, I would queue usually in the outer lanes next to unmanned lanes. If new staff come on to man the lanes, at least you would have a chance to rush to one of the newly opened lanes and blast your way thru the running stampede to get into a shorter line.

In addition, try to pick a lane where there are less dark faces; go for the white faces -- usually less chance of passport/arrival card hold-ups. And young female immigration staff usually much quicker than the old male farts, as one other poster pointed out.

nitram, I think such an arrangement is fraught with problems/risks from both the seller's and buyer's perspective. Let's use your example of a 5 mil baht condo where you declare 3 mil as the amount paid in Thailand at Land Dept, and equiv 2 mil paid outside. Your fees/tax savings on let's say a one year held condo transferred before 28 Mar 2010 will be about 20,000 baht or so; more if the govt doesn't extend the reduction measures, or the condo has been held more than one year and seller is non-Thai.

From the seller's viewpoint, I would want that 2 mil in my hands before I go to Land Dept to do the transfer. But would the buyer want to pay 2 mil which is not covered by the local S+P agreement? Especially if the typical S+P agreement has a clause saying the seller can cancel the sale by returning the typical 10% deposit (300,000 baht) plus pay a penalty equal to the deposit? So if I as seller take the overseas 2 mil then locally say I cancel the S+P and pay the 300,000 baht penalty; now go sue me overseas.

This would be if seller/buyer are dealing at arm's length; and not as related parties.

I don't understand your question on the FETF either. If you transferred in 2 mil, then the bank will issue the FETF for 2 mil. You would still need an FETF with an additional 1 mil baht to cover the 3 mil baht transfer declared at the Land Dept for this transfer to go through.

BTW, tax/fees on S+P payable at Land Dept for individual sellers do not depend upon capital gain, but on amount declared for the transfer, and on other things like number of years between transfers and whether a Thai owner has used the unit as residence.

degenfarang, if you are walking from Sukhumvit to Rama IV on soi 26, you would pass on your right, the Imperial Tara Hotel, then a Mint restaurant, then Regent on the Park Condo, then an outlandish building called Sopranos, and just next to Four Wings hotel is Condo One X. It's a 30 story white/beige, bit of red building -- big sign at the front entrance with guard shack. 7-11 on the opposite corner. Don't see how you could have walked by without seeing it.

I'll PM you some photos. Note that I only stay in that unit one week a month, and so the furnishings are basic. I would sell the unit unfurnished but include the built-ins like washing machine, refrigerator, shower door, water heater, two Daikin A/C's, and curtain rods.

I have a one bedroom unit on 12/F, 60.68 sq meters at Noble Remix, which is right at BTS Thonglor station on Sukhumvit Soi 36. There will be a direct walkway from building to the station. Project is just about completed and unit owner inspection supposed to take place beginning this month January, and transfer of ownership in Feb/Mar.

If you want more details, pm me here or email me at pcmar at netvigator dot com. Price is not cheap; around baht 112,000 per sq meter.

I have another unit as well at Condo One X, Suk Soi 26, 8 minute walk to BTS Phrom Phong station. One bedroom, 51.77 sq meters, on 21/F, which I have used one week a month since Sept 2008. Brand new condition. Price around 96,000 baht per sq meter.

I will be in BKK from 22 - 28 Jan for inspection/discussion if you are interested. I can help you and answer any question you may have in non-Thai buying a condo, importing funds for the purchase, doing transfer, selling and exporting funds after sale.

degenfarang, I will be in BKK from 22 Jan to 28 Jan. If you wish to come view my unit at Condo One X, Suk Soi 26, PM me here or email me pcmar at netvigator dot com.

trogers has answered your question about the subsoi that goes one way from soi 26 to soi 24, at Davis Hotel. I am non-Thai and I can show you any and all documents you will need to purchase/sell a condo, title document (chanote), and to import funds for the transfer and export funds when you sell the unit.

Condo One X is right next to Four Wings hotel on Soi 26. Developer is Plus Property which is a subsidiary of Sansiri Company, the best developer in the business. It's an 8 minute walk to Prom Phong BTS station/Emporium Mall, or a 10 baht motorcycle taxi ride, 1 minute.

PM me if interested in one bedroom unit at Condo One X, Sukhumvit soi 26. One year old, 21st floor, 51.77 sq. meters. I've lived in that unit only one week per month since Sept 2008. My email is << Use PM >>. I will be next in BKK 22 Jan. Price within your budget, upper limit.

For transferring money out from a condo sale, at Bangkok Bank, they want to see the original of the blue/green tax form issued by the Land Dept office, plus copies, front and back, of the chanote and the transaction document that accompanies the chanote. Thus, to ensure, that I as seller get to keep original of the blue form, the two times I have sold condo units, I specifically have a condition that I as seller am responsible for paying all tax and fees. There then is no argument as to who (purchaser or seller) gets to keep the blue form. I just build the fee structure into the overall price for the condo sale.

With me as seller being responsible for all fees and taxes, on the day of transfer, there's no chance that complications arise as to what transaction value is placed on sale, or the other party disagreeing as to tax/fee amounts, or not bringing sufficient cash to pay the tax/fees.

Works for me anyway.

Surprising to me, the staff at Bangkok Bank Head Office remittance department had zero interest in looking at the copies of the Foreign Exchange Transaction Form showing the monies being imported for the original purchase. This is somewhat understandable since there is no trail as to which FETF went with which condo and for what amount. So the usual advice of other posters here that you have to show the FETF for funds imported is non-applicable, at least for Bangkok Bank, anyway; I haven't done funds export with other banks.

Reminds me of the German guy who was divorced by his wife after she found out he had been deaf for more than 10 years but never told her.

Lol. Now that is a great one. Imagine it, how could she not have realised sooner? Maybe if she shut up for a few seconds she might have worked out there was a problem.

And to the OP, my wife is smart but still I get dumbfounded every now and then. She has come out with some right crackers. One time I got 30 points on my licensefor speeding, the cops said it will be wiped of in one year. In the car my wife said, that's good honey, it's already December so you will get your points back next month!!!! Go figure, I tried explaining but she wouldn't have it.

I thought she had gone nuts until in January she made me go to the cop shop and true enough she was right.

Now that is mad!

I think it's just thai logic, it's got nothing to do with the women, it's all of them.

That is Thai logic. According to property transfer regulations at Lands Department, if you bought a condo unit on 1st Dec, and sold it on 31st Dec., you will be taxed as having held it for full one year. If you sold the unit on 1st January, you will be taxed as having owned it for two full years, even though you have actually owned the unit for only 31 days.